The taxman has begun this exercise of naming and shaming tax defaulters for the last few years and had named at least 96 such entities which have huge tax liabilities on them and have either gone non-traceable or have shown no assets for recovery.

New Delhi: The Income Tax Department on Thursday published names of five entities owing over Rs. 10 crore in taxes, as part of its strategy to name and shame big defaulters. In an advertisement issued in leading national dailies, the department brought out the list of defaulters of income tax and corporate tax even as it advised them to pay their “tax arrears immediately”. The Income Tax Department has begun this exercise of naming and shaming tax defaulters for the last few years and had named at least 96 such entities which have huge tax liabilities on them and have either gone non-traceable or have shown no assets for recovery.

The latest list has names of five such alleged defaulters, based in Delhi. (Also read: Filing income tax returns? Things to keep in mind as deadline approaches)

A senior official said the public list, with details of the individual or entity like their PAN card number (in certain cases), last known address and assessment range and defaulted amount of tax, is also aimed to make aware the people at large so that they can inform the department in case they have some inputs against them.

“The entries in the list are specific to the tax arrears and assessment year mentioned. The tax defaulter’s address, business, shareholding and management may have changed,” the notice issued by the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (New Delhi) said.

The total taxes due by these five defaulters is Rs. 10.27 crore, the notice said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy-making body of the Income Tax Department, had few years back adopted the strategy of bringing out the names of chronic defaulters in public domain and had also begun posting these names on its official website.

Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department recently launched an online facility to correct errors in names and other details in permanent account number (PAN) and Aadhaar documents. Alongside the facility to link biometric identifier Aadhaar with PAN, the department also put two separate hyperlinks on its e-filing website – one to update changes in existing PAN data or for application of new PAN by an Indian or a foreign citizen.